Sunday, September 7, 2008

Got a box for the Heater Contactor


I got a box to put the Heater Contactor and Fuse inside of to kep them out of the Elements today at Home Depot, nearby.

It was a Plastic Junction Box, 4" X 4" X 4" - with a gasket sealed, screw down lid, and 4 legs with screw holes to mount it at the base.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Family Day - Still trying to get it done - Made it to the show - by 11 AM

I woke up to a Rainy day first thing today! Still did not have the Instruments in and wired up - and was concerned as to how to reach the gauges with the short Voltmeter wires, so - I made up a set of extensions for the lead to the voltmeter as well - about 14" - just enough to cover the needed reach!

Then I got the New EV Cluster inserted into place on the console cluster, and went to work getting the PakTrakr wired and Mounted. Got all my Remotes plugged in to the display, and the Serial interface as well, then connected the Amp sensor connector into the serial connector, and got the Amp Settings re-set and confirmed.

Powered up the Woodward Display, secured the PakTrakr - and placed the Blue Power indicator LED into a hole for the screws where will be secured the heater selector, and so I can see it!

Finally - got the Drivers and Passenger Seats installed - and took the shop cover off the Drivers Seat. We were already to go - when wee discovered - I had missed re-attaching the Seat Belts - so had to go and grap my ratchet and 14 mm socket and get that done!

Ok - It's time - off we went to the Site at Downsview - got set up - and were there for at least 4 hours.

The crowds at times were 10 - 15 people around the car, and the usual questions of range, speed, charging time were asked.

A few asked to be included in getting some more information and to be kept up to date!, and I handed out a few business cards where suitable.

Friday, September 5, 2008

New Instrument Pod for Dash Mounting

Today I left work at Noon to continue to get the electricfly ready for Bombardier's Family Day - tomorrow - Saturday - September 6th!

As I now had the dash installed - I figured I needed to get a new setup created to mount the basic Voltmeter & Ammeter, as well as my new Gauges - the PakTrakr and the Woodward Enhanced display.

It took until night - and a lot of trial fits, angle measurements, and cutting pf parts, drilling of instrument and bold holes, and dragging of misalligned bolts holes, but I essentially got a piece together to hold the three primary intruments - the Voltmeter, Ammeter, and the Woodward Enhanced PakTrakr Display!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Install Wires, Rear Seats, Heater, and Dash!


Today - I took the day of work - as I am trying to get the car ready for Bombardier's Family Day to show it there - lots of work left to do!


I started the day with the car striped of seats, and decided first to get wired up the New Kill switch (the old one broke when I too out the Dash last fall - it was hard soldered to its wires with no removable connectors).


After that - I got the AC power cord covered with the 1/2" split-loom harness cover and tucked under the seat rails (had to remove the end plug, tuck it though, then re-attach the plug), and over the rear wheel wells (tucked it between the wheel well outside and inside skin & structure).


After that - I covered the PakTrakr Lead that ran to the location on the Front PakTrakr Remote - but was now connected to the PakTrakr Display, with 1/4" Split-Loom Harness.







Next - I cut to length 2 wires for the Third BattEQ - yet to be installed, to run from the battery #3 at the front, back to the first position of the Equalizer in the rear - wrapped them at intervals with tape, and the wrapped them with tape to the 4th battery lead running from the Front Equalizer - back to Battery #4, then covered those three wires with 1/2" Split-Loom harness cover for the full length.

All these three groups were now covered - from front to back - and through the firewall for better protection from abrasion, and other attack. this covered the Right Hand side, now on to the left.

Next - I fully wrapped the Red-Green & Black wires for the Extension on the PakTraker Remote that lead from the front remote - to the connection at the rear remote, with spiral wrap, after which it also was covered in Split-Loom Harness covering, right up through the firewall and up to the remote.

This was followed by securing the carpet back in place and reworking the nylon anchor strips attached to the floor carpeting by re-stapling and tidying up the edges, and vacuuming again!

Next came the Re-Installation and securing of the panels on the inside - rear, Left & Right, and tailgate, and making sure the wires had the length to reach as needed.

Then - it was on to the Rear Seat Re-Installation! Got the Bottom In and the back secured, and it was starting to look good again!


This was followed by the loosening of the Dash Lower Cross-member support and installation of the Heater Assembly. The throttle pedal needed to be partially un-bolted and loosened up to tuck one leg of the Heater Assembly under it and then get it's nut on and snugged up a bit - and then the throttle could be re-secured! Then the other side lower stud location had it's nut spun up and the top two screws installed and everything tightened up. Of course - the lead wires for the new heating element were run thought the dash - and also - covered in 3/8" Split-Loom Harness covering for protection.

It was late afternoon by this time and I was just beginning to get the Dash Installed, when I remembered - as I was installing a dash from the Wrecking Yard - from a sued car - I needed to switch the VIN Tags. After getting this done - I stuck the Voltmeter and Ammeter Gauge Wires (Analog) and the LXT Monitor wires up on the windshield Glass with Tape to hold them - and proceeded to get the dash installed!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Strip the Car - Prepare to Hide all Long Open Wire runs

Today was the Day I spend from After work until near Mid-Night , stripping out all the EV gauges, Instrument Cluster, Driver & Rear seats, steering Wheel, and so on - getting the car ready to tuck all the wires in under the carpet, and under the seat supports! Long Day!






Tuesday, September 2, 2008

First 2 BattEQ's Wired up!


Today - I got the first two Battery Eqaualizers wired up to the Batteries! The Long Leads on the Front BattEQ were first connected using Crimp-Type Butt connectors and then covered with Heat Shrink tubing to make the reach from the Firewall mounted BattEQ location to the batteries.


After that - the 5/16" Ring Terminals were crimped and sealed with Heat shrink Tubing, colored the same as the lead wires, whenever possible, and finally - the Ring Terminals were secured to the relevant batteries.

Now to watch and see when and if (or how well) they perform - by watching the results on the Woodward Enhanced PakTrakr Display - and - to log the events with the SD Data Logging option!

Monday, September 1, 2008

PakTrakr Remote Lead Extention, BattEQ Rear Started

I spent a lengthy period of time today - tracking down the wires on the second remote I wanted to extend the leads to the Blue Plug End, because - this one did not have the normal Black, Red, and Green - wire colors! Instead - the green lead (Data) - was replaced with a Black Insulated Lead, and the Red Lead (Power) was replaced with a wire with a clear covering insulation, and - the normal Black or Ground lead - was a bare wire! That made it a bit of a concern that I get the leads wired right - as I was going to cut the line back from the plug by about a foot, and add-in a number of feet of my own Red-Green-Black wire to extend the leads so as to properly wire my remotes so that the serial data stream going to the Woodard Enhanced Display contains the battery data in the right order to my liking!

I unreeled from spools - the number of feet I wanted in Red, Green, and Black; then tied them together with small wraps of electrical tape, then twisted and soldered the joints together, and covered them with relevant colored Heat shrink tubing.

Finally - I fished the wires from the front remote (that I was extending the leads on) back to the rear pack remote, re-installed the wires in sequence, and confirmed it was blinking - then connected it to the rear remote - confirmed that one was still blinking - then - hooked up the rear remote to the PakTrakr Display - Voila! Success!!

Now - the display shows the Battery Voltages (& Temps) from Batteries #1, #2, and #3 - in the front of the car - as on Remote A, and the Voltages (& Temps) from the batteries in the back of the Car - #'s 4 - 8, as on Remote B, so - I got it!!

Also - Spent some time to get the Second Battery Equalizer Mounted in the rear Battery Pack Area. I chose to mount it on a piece of Polycarbonate Plastic that I screwed to the Hold Down for Battery #6.